Top 10 Government & Public Sector Headlines from Asia Pacific The Australian Law Reform Commission is promoting a new statutory framework, proposing a form of inquiry to run parallel to Royal Commissions, with similar advantages and outcomes to Royal Commissions, but offering greater flexibility and less formality. Following a 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers study conducted for the Australian Local Government Association, a backlog of $14.5 billion in infrastructure renewals was identified. India has a federal constitution, with the responsibility for governance divided between the central and state governments. Changes to government procurement policies are intended to enhance access by local producers and suppliers to procurement markets. When one looks at the current huzzle and buzzle around privatization of infrastructure in India, it is difficult to imagine that just about six years back, privatization was virtually unknown in India. The story started with the Road sector in the late 1990’s but that too initially was not under the BOT Model. The project was funded by the Government through a 1% cess on diesel. Starting with the subprime crisis, the world economy has beenplunged into a "once in a hundred years" economic crisis.With the United States as the epicenter, the U.S., Europe, Japan, and China are creating demand for goods and services through large-scale government spending in order to cover the sudden shrinkage in demand. Congress enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act("FCPA" or "the Act") in 1977 inresponse to the Watergate scandal. On 9 November 2008, the PRC announced an RMB 4 trillion stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis. The funds will be invested in ten key sectors over the course of two years, and a considerable part will be distributed in accordance with government procurement laws. Government departments and agencies cannot assume that section 81 will authorise the spending of money on whatever activities or objectives the government likes. Live music and entertainment in restaurants, pubs, cafes and clubs is now set to flourish. New laws commenced this week which aim to encourage live music. | 
